“Ghosting may be an incredibly common practice, but that doesn’t make it less rude or unkind,” says UTMB’s Jeff Temple. Ghosting—the practice of ending all communication with someone without giving an explanation—can happen at any time and in any relationship explains Reader’s Digest. Temple helped Reader’s Digest explain why it happens and how to respond.

UTMB’s Dr. David Walker spoke to Healthline about a new bacterium reported in the US by the CDC. Little is known about the bacterium and Walker said there is still a lot to learn about it. “This is another anaplasma that affects humans so it’s the beginning of the story that we need to learn more about,” Walker told Healthline. “It was only 4 samples out of 30,000 samples so it’s a low percentage.”

UTMB’s Vivan Tat, a graduate student in Experimental Pathology and co-founder and co-leader of Taking Our Best Shot, was named a Woman to Watch by the Houston Business Journal in its 2023 Women Who Mean Business Awards. The criteria for selection according to the journal included career achievement, contribution to company and city success, community involvement and leadership.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is the deadliest tick-borne disease. If left untreated, it will kill roughly 20 percent of those who contract it, said Dr. David Walker, a professor of pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Even when treated with doxycycline, it is fatal in about 4 percent of cases, he said. “You’ve got to treat them before day five if you don’t want death to start occurring,” Walker said. “It’s not an easy diagnosis to make.”

Malaria typically turns up in the U.S. when American residents travel abroad, contract malaria and then return home. On the other hand, when experts say eight new cases were “locally acquired,” that means that the infected individual acquired the virus from a mosquito inside the U.S., said Dr. Scott Weaver, virologist and director of the Institute for Human Infections & Immunity and a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

The Facts newspaper released its list of Readers’ Choice winners for 2023. The UTMB Health Angleton Danbury Campus won 1st place in three categories: Favorite Hospital, Favorite ER and Favorite Urgent Care Facility.

In his newspaper column, Dr. Samuel Mathis explained that MCTs work by supercharging our utilization of fat stores for energy. “MCT oil is not for everyone, but it may be a helpful additive for those looking for something extra to give them a little boost in their health journey,” he wrote.

“Because of international travel, population migration and climate change, diseases spread by mosquitos may begin to occur in greater numbers in the United States,” wrote Drs. Megan Berman and Richard Rupp in Vaccine Smarts. “Existing vaccines and new ones under development will play a major role in keeping us safe from such diseases. But for now, just keep using your mosquito repellant.”

Scientists have developed a new approach using “dancing molecules” to repair the spinal cord and reverse paralysis after a severe spinal cord injury, explained Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel in Medical Discovery News.

“It is important to clearly communicate parental expectations in an age-appropriate manner and set a good example,” wrote Dr. Sally Robinson in her column. “Sometimes we just have to think about what we are saying.”